Mechanical Properties of INCONEL 718 Parts Manufactured by Shaped Metal Deposition (SMD)

INCONEL 718 parts have been manufactured by shaped metal deposition (SMD), an additive layer manufacturing technique applying wire-based tungsten inert gas welding. This technique is aimed toward mass customization of parts, omitting time- and scrap-intensive, subtractive fabrication routes. SMD results in dense, “near net-shaped” parts without pores, cracks, or fissures. The microstructure of the SMD parts exhibit large, columnar grains with a fine dendritic microstructure. The interdendritic boundaries are decorated by small Laves phase precipitates and by MC carbides. Tensile tests were performed with different strain rates (10⁻⁴, 10⁻³, and 2 × 10⁻³ 1/s), but no dependency on strength or strain at failure was observed. The ultimate tensile strength was 828 ± 8 MPa, the true plastic strain at failure 28 ± 2%, the micro Vickers hardness 266 ± 21 HV200, and the dynamically measured Young’s module was 154 ± 1 GPa.